I could probably write a book about the fitness [s]debacle[/s] journey that I‘ve been on for the past couple of years, but I’ll skip that and just say that I’ve been struggling with a few troublesome bad habits for a long time and I’ve finally come to accept that these are the reasons for my failure to reach my fitness goals – I over-think (everything), over-estimate (my fitness level), over-work (during exercise and otherwise), and under-sleep (constantly).

You see, I want to be Spider-Man (read: elite-level gymnast/fighter/acrobat with an athletic, but not bulky, build), but I’m more like pre-radioactive-experiment-gone-wrong Peter Parker and I don’t see any glowing arachnids anywhere nearby that might be willing to make my transition easier (besides, I’m mildly arachnophobic, so I’m not too keen on the idea anyway). It’s only just now dawning on me that going from web-footed Kermit the Frog to web-headed Super-hero is going to have to happen in baby steps – hence, my not-so-triumphant return (complete with over-use of hyphens and parenthetical asides) to these illustrious forums and the simple joys of shovelglove.

I don’t have a set plan, and I’m going to force myself to not create one. Each workday I’ll choose between my 6# (focus on speed) and my 10# (focus on endurance) hammer, depending on my mood and make up a workout that just sounds like a good idea for that day. Each workout will be 16 minutes long with a 4 minute cool down/meditation/stretch to finish, because 20 minutes is the minimum to earn a “point” on my employer’s wellness plan (60 points in a quarter earns me a big discount on my health insurance!). My job and my dog also have me walking a lot, and sometimes I jog/run/sprint instead for that extra little bonus point here and there.

Just for the heck of it, I’ll post my daily workouts here for the viewing pleasure of anyone who cares and might be looking for some ideas on what to do with their own hammer.

Comments: Holy crap my core hurts . . . but in a good way! I’ve been playing with the 6# on-and-off for a while as a conditioning thing, but it doesn’t nearly put the torque on my lower back and abs that the 10# does. Also, my hands are aching from maintaining the grip (which makes me happy, because grip strength is a major weak-spot for me). I also got some lovely popping and cracking in my spine and neck about halfway through (the good, pressure-releasing, slipping-back-into-place kind).

I've had some of the same "wandering" issues you write about. A while back, I figured out that shovelglove plus a few bodyweight things and a bit of rope skipping for a total of 14 minutes each weekday is all I need LIFETIME. I know it's not exercise-lab ideal to have so little variation, but it works for me.

I don't know if this will get by for a lifetime, but I figure I can at least build myself up to "pretty fit for a mere mortal" this way. Eventually I'll start incorporating some of the more advanced stuff that I want to do, but just have to keep reminding myself to take it all in stages.

The insurance thing is great! It's a new thing that my company started last month, and it's really helping to get me motivated. I've been saying for years that we should have a wellness plan!_________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: I was kind of stiff still from yesterday, so I decided to make today sort of a “light duty” or active recovery day. You’ll notice all of the exercises have a circular or at least rotation element – I thought it might be a good way to encourage joint mobility. Swings in particular feel good on the shoulder/rotator cuff, though be warned: be careful if try this move while not gripping the hammer at the very end of handle – you just might whack yourself in the hip bone... like I did. >_<_________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

And thanks for the details. That is a great deal re the insurance.... wonder how they monitor that. Perhaps they know that a shugger would never so dishonor himself as to lie about or exaggerate his exploits.

Spiderman is a tall order... but I think, if you throttle your exuberance and go for consistency over many months, you'll be very pleased with the results. Focusing on the time rather than the precise details of the workout not only makes your insurance company happy, but if the best way to build habit and lock out excuses.

The insurance thing actually does rely on my honor as a Shugger - we just fill out these little scorecard things and send them to HR at the end of each month and they handle it from there.

Spiderman is definitely a lofty goal, but I keep thinking of that Bill Murry movie "What about Bob?" and remind myself everyday to take "Baby steps". The focal shift is already proving to be a big help, because I spend less time obsessing over what I should do for the next week and can just ask "what am I in the mood for today?" It's a lot less stressful.

I'm not sure how to deal with my sleep issues . . . sometimes it just seems easier to drink more coffee, but that doesn't really help the post-workout recovery at all.

(Yesterday was an "S-day" of sorts - due to my poor recuperative ability, I find it better to have one in the middle of the week and one at the end rather than taking them both at once.)

10# Hammer
10 each of every move on my list of 23

Comments: It’s been a while since I’ve done some of the moves on my directory, so I thought a “variety day” might be in order. It definitely prevented the mid-workout “are we there yet!?” that I sometimes experience, but proved to be less of a challenge than I suspected - which doesn’t bother me much, because I’ll be doing some real manual labor after work today.

The lack of a specific time wasn’t intentional, I just set my timer wrong and didn’t realize it before I was already practically done with the list. I’m reasonably confident that it took 15 minutes or so._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: It's feeling "Springish", you might say, and I'm longing to get out on the river (must be that little smattering of Cherokee genetics coming through), so I went for a canoe-themed workout today. Great sweat, hell on the deltoids and one heck of a mood enhancer.

I wanted to do 4 full circuits, but only made it to 3 and a half before time ran out. I blame my left arm for being a little too pokey. We'll have to work on that...

Comments: Basic, basic. Felt good, though. My traps are kind of sore, mostly due to crappy posture and putting up way too much drywall on a ceiling for the past few Saturdays, but I figure that the lumps will fade in time._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: I really should have had the 6# hammer for this! The freestyle was fun, and took a decidedly combative aspect. I had a nice open space to play in, so I did a lot of moving around and swinging in wide circles, which surprising things to my lats that might progress from “surprising” to “painful” when I wake up in the morning. I intend to do more of this, and hope to formalize some “combat-shovelglove” moves out of it.

The second part is a slight variation on what are called “minute drills”, but I took out the silly rest period and shot for a stretch of constant work. It’s nice to let the mind focus on the movement rather than the counting – The Tao of the Shovelglove?

This handy dandy interval timer works great for this kind of workout. Just set up you intervals and start swinging!

Comments: It’s not as complicated as it looks at first, I just set things up a little weird because I wanted to make sure that I had a chance to play with the macebell moves (sorry for the lack of linkage – I’m at work now and youtube is blocked on our servers), which proved to be pretty nice for opening up the shoulders and getting things warmed up. The “Low block” thing is also taken from a youtube vid, which I am presently unable to provide, though the rest should be fairly self explanatory. Really felt this in the tendons in my elbows and my hands.

Freestyling gave me some time to work on SG variations of some broadsword drills that I used to do in my stage combat days (which I hope to return to soon, hence the fight-themed workout today)

“Slash/Pivot” - which, as the name suggests, is a diagonal slash followed by pivoting 180 degrees on the front foot, rinse, repeat . . . and don’t forget to spot your pivots. You don’t want to get dizzy with a sledge hammer swinging overhead!

“St. George’s Parry” - a difficult to describe maneuver that looks something like what the guy in white is doing, followed by an overhead slash, which is apparently very effective against dragons . . . I guess.

I'm not likely to promote these to the "moves" section until I have a decent collection of usable descriptions/demo vids to make them intelligible to people more normal than I am.

Comments: This was a good grip/core workout, but lousy for cardio – I didn’t realize that only one of these moves (Thresh Wheat) is really feasible for me at a fast pace. Macebell moves kick the crap out of your hands.

Spartan Swipe is another clubbell move I found on youtube, I threw it in for a little extra something to hit the core . . . it proved to be waaay more than “a little” anything. I like it! :twisted

Part 2
30 each of random moves as they come to mind
for the remaining 8:00

Comments: Lacking inspiration tonight, so I wound up with a weird split. Good for variety, I suppose. It worked better than I expected, too – the first part was geared more toward strength and the second toward endurance, so by the end I was sweaty and beat. The 10# really gives my grip strength a challenge, especially on the 360s

Comments: I call this a “diminishing returns” setup – the numbers get smaller, but the movements get more challenging. Round 3 went a little slower than the first two, but I’d like to blame my iPod for shuffling in slower songs right about that time. :p

I’d intended to freestyle a bit to finish, but ran out of time just as I was getting started. Excellent core workout today – I feel it all around the low back, abs and obliques._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: Repeated from May 7 with the reps nudged up a bit. Made five trips through, plus a bonus round of Swings (which were getting really hard to control by this point!).

Felt it a lot more in the mid-back than I did in the core like last time, and as usual the grip effort was immense._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: Low reps for hard movements today. I was in the mood for what you might call a “max strength” workout, as opposed to the usual endurance/conditioning stuff. It’s a different kind of sweat, but just as satisfying. I actually did 4 circuits, and decided to freestyle for the last minute rather than start a 5th that I knew I wouldn’t have time to finish.

The idea was to do each move in a slow and controlled fashion, as opposed to the frantic, sweat-pouring rush that I usually work under. I would have liked some more “pulling” type movements (I've got one in development - more later), but I’m calling it a success, nonetheless.

Move: Dips are nothing special, I just used the inside corner of a wrap around counter and tucked my feet up behind me (the last rep needed a little assist from one of those feet, actually . . . don’t tell!).

Pump handle levers are another macebell move that I saw on youtube.

Axe thrower was kind of a whim (I saw a competitive lumberjack thing on TV and decided to give it a shot) – don’t actually throw the SG, just lift it over head and let it hand perpendicular to the floor behind your back, then lever it straight over head as if you were throwing it, but stop it with the head pointing straight at the cieling. It’s difficult to describe, but I’m sure “axe throwing” on youtube will provide some illumination. If you try it, do be careful not to break your tailbone with the hammer.

6/7 – 6# Freestyle day. Experimented with more conventional lifts utilizing the lever action of the SG to add challenge. Played with good deadlift, bent-over row, bench press, tri-extension, overhead press and curl variations, along with some not-so-satisfying delt-raises and overhead squats (nice core-stabilization, but not much of a lower body workout).

6/8 – S-Day

6/9 – Jane Fonda DVD with Missus. Not my first choice, but variety is good and quality time cursing Jane’s existence together is always fun.

Comments: Wanted to use some of what I’d learned from Saturdays’ experiment, and integrate them a bit more with the SG-aesthetic. Made four trips through, though I have to admit that I went a minute over to finish that last test of butter churns. Don’t tell. :p

These new moves really offer a lot of control over resistance, and I found them pleasantly challenging. You’ll excuse me for cross-posting, but I think these are worthy of promotion to the “Moves” board.

New Moves!

-Pump Water: Get into a lunge, as deep as you’re comfortable with and hold the shovelglove with your back hand, thumb pointing away from the head and your front forearm resting on your knee. Your front hand will act as a fulcrum for the “pump handle” so you can adjust the difficulty in the usual way of moving your hands nearer or further from the head. Now lean forward and pull with your back hand kind of like this guy is doing. Imagine that you’re working the handle on a large water pump.

-Giant Wrench: Lie on your back with your arms bent 90 degrees at the elbows and the handle of the SG across, and directly over, your chest. Push straight up with the arm closest to the head of the SG, using the non-working arm as a fulcrum to adjust difficulty. Picture lying under a large machine, or pipeworks and the SG is a massive wrench that your using to tighten a bolt or a fitting. “Post-industrial Shovelglove”? :p_________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: More combat-type stuff! Had about 2:00 for freestyle, and just did some swirly stuff to loosen up.

My thought here was to really focus on the “explosive” nature of the attacks – I tried to pop them out as fast as possible, reset, and then pop again, making each move a whole body sort of movement by driving with my feet and hips to generate power. It was a lot of fun, and did some interesting things to my abs. :p

Moves:
Slashes are just diagonal cuts – imagine someone standing in front of you (or use a mirror) and split them from shoulder to hip (or hip to shoulder, in the case of Upward Slashes). Another note, I did the upward slashes in what’s called a “reverse grip”, which just means that instead of my thumbs pointing at the head, the pointed away from it. It’s optional, just fun.

I’m off for my vacation, so it might be a whole week of s-days (though more than likely I’ll be doing real manor labor, catching up on projects around the house._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: Back in the saddle after my all-too brief vacation only to find that my beloved hammers are unavailable to me today, so I’m lapsing, temporarily, back into my old bodyweight-only ways (which I’m not happy about, because I had some ideas I wanted to try out with the 10# tonight. ). It’s a good experience, though – I want to start mixing things up a bit more.

Made four rounds, though I had to adjust the reps on the kips as noted (they’re really hard on the wrists and my form started to uglify) and I’ll admit that I wasn’t exactly hurrying. I wanted this to more of an endurance thing than a cardio thing.

Moves:
Kip-to-Bridge is a preparatory move for a full kip-up. Lie flat on your back with your hands on the floor at either side of your head, then tuck your knees into your chest while while lifting your backside up as far as you can. Kick your legs up into the air with all you’ve got while pushing off the floor with your hands. The tricky part is getting your legs underneath of you again so that you land on your feet instead of your buttocks. The full kip-up ends with you in a squatting position on your feet, but this version only goes halfway, and lands in a gymnast’s bridge. It’s hard to describe, but Pictures help a lot!_________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

6/26/2008
Freestyle day - during which I invented a new slashing combination (Which is, unfortunately, impossible to adequately describe in words) and discovered the fun of SG Turkish Getups (just hold the hammer overhead in both hands, alternating which side the head is on so that you keep it balanced)

Comments: My hammers are in the car again . . . my car is with my lady-wife. D’oh! >_<

With my goal of Spidermanliness in mind, I’ve decided to start intentionally pointing my workouts in the general direction of Free Running – if you’ve seen this art in practice, you’ll probably understand why.

Also, I’ve changed the way I time workouts. I’ve set up a play list on my iPod with songs that add up to the desired workout length - approx. 4:00 warmup, 15:00 workout, 4:00 cool down. I picked some nice mellow instrumental stuff for the cooldown and rockin’ J-pop for the rest, to keep me moving. It would have worked great if I hadn’t left the stupid thing on shuffle. >_<

Comments: I’ve been lacking in the flexibility work ever since I changed jobs last fall - I intend to rectify that with more things like this, and separate stretching sessions from time to while I’m at work (I used to do it all the time when I was cubicle-bound).

Note the progressive rep increase – harder moves get lower numbers, so that moving on to something easier isn’t really all that easy.

I only managed to circuits, but I'm blaming this on the insane amount of time required to perform a single Turkish Getup, let alone 10 on each side! Note for the future, keep the reps low on these.

I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but it’s important to note that lower reps indicate more difficult movements/variations. The goal with this particular scheme is to focus on “max strength”, meaning that those 5 reps need to be very, very difficult.

The warmup is catered to prep that muscles for the coming pain that will occur along similar ranges of motion. Clever, huh? Not my idea. :p

Made 3 rounds, minus the last round Getups, which was pretty close to my goal. These were pretty hard, and I was getting worn pretty thin by the end.

Forgot to count my rounds, but I think I did 4 or five. I might have gone through faster, but I lost count of the reps on some of the combo moves and I'm sure I did extra.

Moves: For the punches, hold the head of SG closer to the punching hand and use the free arm to control the rest of the handle. The pivot this time is on the balls of both feet, so neither foot will come of the ground, I’m just rotating on the balls of both together . . . it’s hard to explain, but in Aikido it’s called a tenkai. Front kicks are just simple forward kicks with the leg opposite of the jabbing arm.

Down-Slash/Thrust is a great combo, because it forces you to overcome the momentum of the SG from the slash and reverse it into a thrust. Great for ol’ core.

Comments: Back to basics for tonight. I thought I’d challenge myself a bit with the warmup, but mostly this is just an old fashioned endurance workout. No frills, but fun none-the-less, and totally brutal on the arms! This is the first time I’ve used both hammers for one workout – I don’t think it’s something I’ll do often, but it was a nice change of pace.

My “foam roller” is actually a piece of 3” PVC pipe, but it’s just as effective and has the added bonus of having been free. I have stupidly tight calves.

I did 150 of the Macebell 10-2 and made two trips through the workout, plus an extra round of Shovels and Firmans . . . er, Firemen? Whatever. :p

7/6/2008

S Day

7/7/2008

I didn’t really “workout” today, but I’ve taken up clogging with some friends on Mondays, so I’m counting it.

7/8/2008

Warmup:
Dynamic Stretch ~4:00

Workout: 6# SG
Freestyle ~16:00

Cooldown:
Static Stretch ~4:00

Comments: It’s been a hot, slimy, humid day and I’m having a serious lack of ambition, so I thought I’d just fake it for today.

Comments: Slight modification of my last heavy day. Mostly just simplified the warmup and trimmed the reps on the TGs (they’re friggin’ hard, and take a lot of time to execute).

Only made 3 rounds, minus the last set of TGs, just like last time. I’d hoped that dropping the reps would have made it a little easier to make 3 full rounds, but I’ve been pretty low on energy lately, and I think I made the reps on everything a little harder that last time. Either way, I’m satisfied with the sweat. I’m off to enjoy a well-earned protein shake.

7/10/2008

Got off to a good start today, but over-extended something in my left elbow on a thrust, so I stopped partway. I’m not happy about that, but I’ve got some time off work making extra S-Days this week anyhow. Hopefully everything will be back to normal for next week._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

to my shame, I haven't touched the hammers all week on account of of being sick (I really hate being sick). I'm feeling mostly well now, so I should be back at it this week, though I'll likely be easing back into it._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

With my humble compliments to Finnigan for providing [url= http://everydaysystems.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=3838] a bit of inspiration[/url]. I got through the warmup 1.5 times (didn’t make past #2 of the 2nd round of CB swings),
just barely managed two rounds of the workout (I may have gone over into my cooldown a bit to pump out those last thresher. Don’t tell!)

I’m still a little worn from being sick, but I feel mostly better. Not sure what effect it had on my performance, though. I’ll have to try this series again when I’m feeling fully recovered. You know, for the sake of science!

Comments: I’m working toward a few “standardized routines” that I can either use off-the-shelf, or as starting points for something different when I’m in the mood. This is a new variation, and thus far my favorite, on the “Max Strength” workout that I’ve used a few times before. I want to start using these heavy lifting days two or three times a week.

I managed 3.5 rounds (I would have been happy with 3, so that’s certainly a win) and feel pretty well pooped.

Comments: More Combat Cardio. I like this sort of thing almost as much as the heavy lifts. The warmup is aimed at shoulder mobility, which is always good when swinging heavy things around. This will probably become another “stock” routine for me, though we’ll see how that works out.

Moves:
I especially like Down-slash/Thrust, because it really puts some serious torque on the core. Up-slash is a great one for rotational explosiveness – I really worked hard at driving it up with my whole body. Thrust Lunge is a great whole-body conditioning kind of thing, and takes a fair amount of balance and coordination. “Proper form”, as far as actual swordplay goes, is to complete the thrusting motion before lunging, so it’s almost as if the weapon is pulling you forward (there are reasons, but they’re complicated. Just take my word for it).

I did some playing around with adding moulinets (that flashy thing you see in movies where the guys swings the sword his head, or behind his back to wind up for the attack) as part of my transition between reps, and it added a nice grip and muscular control element (aside from just being fun and looking really cool, which are reasons enough in themselves). I didn’t even hit myself a single time tonight! :p

7/262008 – 8/4/2008

I’m not entirely sure what happened to me this week, but I’ve had [i]zero[i] energy. I could go on a semi-poetic screed about how burned out I felt, but instead I’ll just stick with a simple “lousy” and move on.

Comments: Slight mod on my previous combat cardio – I’m just not up to Thrust-Lunges.

I’m still feeling pretty worn out, but I thought that as long as I had at least a little extra energy, I’d use it up with the hammer. I made it a point not to work at my usual intensity, though._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Played with some clubbell and kettlebell moves I’ve had an interest in. Still trying to develop a suitable “SG Snatch”, and I gave some Iaido moves a shot (with the hammer head as the pommel) which proved to be pretty fun, though a lot more difficult than I expected with my left hand.

8/9/2008 is going to be an S-day, because I’m in a friend’s wedding, and there’s not going to be 20 minutes to spare for a decent workout.

Comments: Still having energy problems, likely allergy-related. Trimmed out the OH presses that I usually have in this series for the sake of squeezing in more of the other moves (it worked – I did 3 rounds, plus a set of Pump Water). Proved to be quite the butt-kicker (literally! I’m really feeling this in the “posterior chain”).

Used a new variation of Pump Water that’s more like a Barbell Bentover row (though I used straight legs). The trick to adjusting the weight is to use the non-pulling hand as a counter-weight to the hammer head so that the SG stays parallel to the floor - your kind of pulling with one arm while pushing with the other.

Comments: Basics. I added the 4th round because I had the time to spare and no mental energy left to come up with something creative for the freestyle. Still had a minute or so left to play at the end. Next time I’ll add another move to the series.

Comments: Tweaked my last endurance day, but I think I over-clocked it a bit. I only made it up through the Churn Butters on round 3. I think CB Swings just take too much time. Next time I think I’ll use pushups.

Phayze, I have to admit I haven't read this whole thread. However, I do remember reading your introduction, and I just read your last post and I must say I had a laugh.

See, I remember you saying your goal was to be in the kind of physical shape of Spiderman. Then I read you were doing clogging lessons. Now I have no doubt those are a workout; it's just that I can't get the image out of my head of a guy in a Spiderman costume clogg dancing!

In all fairness though, yes, clogging certainly is a workout. That crazy instructor keeps speeding up the music!!

I've been thinking that I'm going to carry on with it much longer though - it's just not really me. I want to get back into martial arts training, but it's hard to find a teacher and a convenient training schedule._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: Max Strength day. I think it works better, timing-wise, without the overhead presses. Decline pushups do a number on the shoulders on their own, though, so I don’t feel too bad about the omission – it just makes more time for everything else.

Did four gut-wrenching rounds, though in retrospect I think that might have been one too many. I’m going to go lie down now.

Comments: Added the OH press back into the cycle as an experiment. I lifted pretty heavy last time I did this series, and really paid for over the weekend, so I thought maybe it would be a good idea to slow myself down a little with a slightly less compound move – it seemed to work fairly well, because I made 4 rounds, just like last time, but I don’t I don’t feel quite so much like rolling over and dying so I’m taking that as a sign that I paced myself a little better this time. :p

Comments: Endurance day again, with some minor adjustments. I think this will officially become a stock routine, though I’m not certain that I’m sold on Thresh Wheat in this series – the torque is a bit hard on the back, so I’m thinking it should be saved for 6#SG days.

Comments: Tried to take this a little easier than usual by taking slightly longer stretch breaks between rounds. Went 3.5, and feel pretty good. This really is my favorite workout!

8/30/2008
Freestyle with the 6#. I’m pretty tired from being short on sleep and hanging drywall this morning, so I kind of limped through it. I’m still taking a point on the wellness plan, though. _________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Same routine, again. I’m trying a little layoff from the max strength workout, just to see if it does much for my energy level. I’m having a really hard time recovering, so I think that the heavy days might be a bit much for me right now.

25 squats to finish again. Maybe the Wednesday was a fluke.

9/13/2008

I decided to dedicate the previous week to s-days, in order to recover, reassess, regroup, and reconsider. It was good timing, too, because not two days after making that decision I somehow managed to pull a serratus (don’t ask, I have no idea how it happened).

Anyway, I could go on a massive, emo-fueled screed about my current fitness situation and the last couple years of fruitless endeavor and dissapointment, but I’ll suffice it to say that I’ve come to the conclusion that I am doing something horribly, horribly wrong. I workout regularly, often, and intensely, and yet instead of getting stronger and fitter I feel more shriveled and worn. I don’t understand why, but after 18 weeks of doing what I’ve been doing I’m not only no better off, but I’m actually worse than when I started.

I know that diet is factor, and I’m working on that. The same goes with rest and recovery. I’ve been doing some reading (always a scary proposition when it comes to fitness issues), and I’m developing a new plan – still basic, but more regimented and goal-oriented. I don’t know if Tuesday will see the debut of the new plan or not, but I’m hoping to get things worked out between today and tomorrow.

No real point to this little rant – just noting a turning point for the sake a future reference. I want to look back on this post in six months and feel proud of the progress I’ve made in the interval._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

You mentioned your diet might be an issue... I'm not sure I'd have any thing useful to advise on that count except possibly "eat more!"

As for exercise, maybe you're just overdoing it? I wonder if the pressure of documenting in detail is making you pushing yourself a little too hard. I tend to go nuts on Monday-Tuesdays and then take it progressively (or regressively ) easier the rest of the week. It's still always 14 minutes or thereabouts, but there's a big difference in intensity.

Best of luck figuring out your next steps and please do keep us posted,

Thanks for the input (and the compliments!), Reinhard! I’ve reached very similar conclusions, actually but I didn't include them in my last post because I wanted to write them out in more detail after I’d had more time to reflect.

“Eat more” is exactly the advice I’ve given myself, with the addition of “eat more calorie-dense foods”. I’ve never had a problem with eating in quantity, but I’ve been on a starch-based diet for so long that I’ve got a lot of habits to break. It’s hard to be a recovering vegan after 10 years on the wagon!

I also agree that I’ve been overdoing things. I have two modes when it comes to exercise: Full Stop and Full Throttle. It’s something that I need to overcome, because I’m not giving myself sufficient rest time to recover. In the past, I’ve focused on exercises that were too advanced for me, which resulted in burnout, so when I switched back to SG I thought that the more natural movements would be easier for my body and nerves to deal with. That worked pretty well at first, but working at full intensity all the time really didn’t end up being any better for me.

Also, I want you (and anyone else who’s reading this) to know that I’m not blaming shovelglove for any of my fitness issues – the problem isn’t the tool, it’s how I’m using it.

Oh, and as far as the documentation process goes, I don’t think that adds any real pressure for me. Even if I weren’t posting my workouts here, I’d still be typing them out for my own benefit. I don’t have the kind of ego that drives me to work harder to impress anyone who might read this – if that were the case, I’d just lie.

So anyway, here’s the new plan, heavily influenced by Rosstraining.com, thesearticles on T-nation (try to ignore the more crass and chauvinistic elements of the site, if you can – there’s really a lot of good fitness information available there), and of course, good ol’ fashioned Shovelglove:

“Maximal Strength” (the ability to exert a large force) remains my primary goal (for now, at least). Though the addition of muscle mass and general fitness improvements are also on the list, I’m considering them secondary goals that will more easily be accomplished once I’ve made some advancement with the primary.

It’s a personal preference to do whole body workouts rather than splitting upper/lower or push/pull, or whatever, so my plan reflects that.

Strength 1 and 2 are done as two mini-circuits with 45s (give or take a few) of rest after each set. “4x6” indicates 4 sets of 6 repetitions. The alternates are for days when my available equipment or my mood require them. For now I’ll switch back and forth a few times to decide which I prefer. The Chinups in Strength 2 Alt will likely be replaced with a “SG Pull Over”, just so that I don’t need another piece of gear to do them.

“Non-intensive” will be light (LIGHT) shovelglove, cardio, agility, or even endurance work. The goal is to work, but not kill myself. Much like I’ve been doing, these workout will be thought up on the fly, though I’m sure I’ll create a few stock options with different foci.

“Rest” can mean “do nothing”, or it can mean light jogging, fight choreography practice, mobility exercises, Yoga/Falun Gong/other meditation or anything else that doesn’t strain the system. What actually happens from one rest day to the next will depend entirely on my mood.

There will likely be some minor tweaking as I go along, but this is plan for now. I’m off for my first session of the new system (if you don’t count yesterday’s Yoga), but I’m going to wait to post anything else on the subject until the end of the week, so that I can have a fuller perspective on the whole thing.

Comments: Nice workout really. I feel it all over, but taking proper rest breaks for water and a little stretching/mobility work definitely helped take the edge off. I’m not concerned with how long this workout took to complete, so I didn’t even check the start/stop times. I want to try to remove those thoughts from my head.

In general, I dislike curling motions, and I’m using them as a bonus move exactly for that reason. I have some weird tendon thing in my elbow and teeny biceps, making this move especially weak for me. I’m hoping to change that.

“Grave Digger” is a macebell move, btw. It’s sort of a “Levered Deadlift”, from what I can tell in the youtube vids, so that’s how I treated it.

Jump squats might not be the best exercise for what I’m doing here, but I’m not sure what else to use in their place yet.

Comments: An old favorite that I’ve been neglecting. This is really an explosive power workout, because each move should be done with the emphasis on using the whole body to accelerate the hammer as quickly as possible – hence the low reps and small hammer. When reps get too high, it’s difficult to generate max power, so it becomes more of an endurance exercise. This also leads to a moderate intensity level, because it makes you pause before each rep to coordinate all of your muscles for the move. Good call for the day.

I did 4 or 5 rounds, including a gentler “warm-up set” before the timer started.

My hamstrings are little sore from yesterday still, but in general I’m feeling pretty good.

9/18/2008
“Rest”
Of the official “relaxation” type.

9/19/2008
“Rest”
This one was circumstantial, rather than intentional, on account of work-related considerations.

Comments: This workout was a lot harder than I expected, particularly the pull overs, but I really enjoyed it. I’ve been walking around like Superman ever since I finished – something about those pullovers really pushes the shoulders back and the chest out!

The One-legged squats aren’t [url=]pistols[/url], which I need a little assist to do full ROM with, but something I’ve seen called “one-legged deadlift squats”. The main difference is that the “free” leg is bent at the knee and tucked behind, rather than extended in front. I also used the SG to add some resistance by holding it like a barbell (business end on the same side as the working leg). This made for an interesting balance challenge.

A pull over looks like this, though obviously with the SG I made it into a unilateral exercise and used leverage to add challenge. Also, I don’t have a bench, so I laid across a chair (though I tried doing a few on the floor instead of the chair, because holding my head up in that position was getting difficult). This does strange and amazing things to your core.

I tried several variations:
-Elbows at 90 degrees, holding SG like a barbell in two hands (non-working hand just stabilized)
-Elbow straight, holding SG like . . . well, like a hammer of all things (non-working hand stabilized head)
-Elbow straight, SG held like you’re doing and overhead chop, so it pointed straight up at the top of the movement (free hand stabilizes the bottom of the handle)

I liked this last version best because I felt like it offered the best combination of challenge and variability. The first variation was definitely the easiest, but I think it would be hard to add challenge as you go. The second option was frickin’ hard, and likely dangerous.

9/22/2008 through 9/29/2008
Okay, so things really didn’t workout as I expected last week. I was actually out of town for some professional training/certification thing, and even though I brought my hammers with me, I spent the week feeling really crapping from not sleeping well while I was away. Plus, my pulled serratus was acting up again, so I took it all together and opted for calling that a “vacation”, which it sort of was in its own weird way (road trip, state park, nice lodgings, gorgeous scenery). Regardless, I’m back on the wagon now . . . I hope._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: A familiar series, but with a different focus – this time I thought it would be fun to see just how fast I could complete this workout, so I set the stopwatch, rather than the timer. Serious. Sweat.

I also included about 4:00 each of warmup/cooldown.

10/2/2008: Rest
I made a video of some of the moves that I do (see this thread if you haven’t already), which involved some light lifting, and I took a walk a while later.

Comments: Rearranged the exercise order a bit, but I’ll probably re-rearrange them before next week . . . assuming that I continue to forget to try out my alternate, resistance band, version

10/4/2008: Non-intensive – Samurai Arobics

03:00 Groundwork
11:00 Freestyle Swordplay

Comments: Something a little different today, but philosophically similar to my “Combat Cardio SG” Routine. I had huge fun with this, and worked up a great sweat!

“Groundwork”, in this context, means a freeflow combination of rolls, falls and quadripedal movement (i.e. bear/crab walk). The idea come out of the Parkour stuff that I’ve linked to before, and the martial art that I used to practice, Aikido. I thought this sort of thing would be good prep for getting back into fight training.

“Freestyle Swordplay” is just what it sounds like, done with a wooden practice sword called a bokken (roughly translates as “stick-sword” in Japanese, I think). Euro-centric sword fighters call them “wasters”, but I prefer the Japanese term . . . because I learned it first. Mostly cutting drills, but I also practiced basic blocking and drawing/resheathing techniques, and threw in a little practice choreography, just for the hell of it. Down side of the bokken, is that it’s not balanced well for single-handed use (leastwise, not in my wimpy single-hands), so I mostly stuck with broadsword/katana style moves._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: Finally remembered to get the band out and give this alternate version a shot. You’ll notice that all of the moves utilize the same range of motion used in my SG Strength 1, just slightly different ways of getting there.

On the plus side, this workout went by really, really fast thanks to all of these being bilateral moves rather than unilateral ones, though on the downside I found a little less satisfying than my usual SG work. Partly to blame is my crappy band – by the time I’d shorted it enough to get some decent resistance for my squats, the thing had pretty much reached the end of it elasticity. I’ll experiment some more and maybe find ways of making this more challenging without having to shell out for a new band, though I have a feeling that the end result will be taking together the best from both these and my SG workouts until I have something that offers the best balance of challenge and efficiency.

Also, I trimmed out the rest period in the middle of each mini-circuit. I was getting bored with all the standing around, and wanted to try to bring my total workout time down a bit.

I didn’t count reps here, because I wanted to focus more on effort than numbers. Very satisfying workout, though. Bodyweight stuff has always been fun to me.

10/11/2008-10/12/2008: Rest

I wanted to workout on the 11th, but circumstances conspired against me, and actual labor took up too much of my day (did I mention that I’m helping to renovate a house on the weekends?).

10/13/2008: Strength 1 Alt - 10# SG

Giant Wrench x6
Grave Digger x6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds
1:30 rest

One-Legged Squat x6
Pump Water x6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds
1:30 rest

*BONUS*
Levered Curl x6
0:30 rest
4 Rounds

Comments: Trimmed my rest periods to keep the pace up (and the time down), and traded in my bonus curls for some quality time on the "ghetto roller" (3" pvc pipe, cut to 1' length). My hamstrings needed the love, big time. Oh, and I swapped out Jump Squats for one-leg squats, because my wife as sleeping while I did this, and I didn’t want to make any more noise than necessary.

Furiously worked at my Halloween costume, which was only mentally taxing. :p

10/16/2008: Stength 2 – Resistance Bands

Band Pull Down x6
BW Leg Curl x6
Rest 0:45s
x4

Band OH Press x6
Band Squat x6
Rest 0:45s
x4

Comments: I haven’t actually managed to try this out until today. It’s slightly adjusted from my original plan, and I skipped the bonus, just to stay in balance with Monday night.

It’s okay, but I’m really just not enjoying the band-work. I thought it would be a nice alternative for using at work (so I wouldn’t have to haul hammers around in the trunk all the time), but the more I experiment the more I dislike the whole thing. Maybe if I had a better band, things would be different.

Oh well. Better luck next time.

10/20/2008: Stength 1 – 10# SG

Giant Wrench x6
Grave Digger x6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds
1:30 rest

Lunge x6
Pump Water x6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds
1:30 rest

*BONUS*
Levered Curl x6
0:30 rest
2 Rounds

Comments: Subbed lunges for one-legged squats because my left knee has been a little fussy. I want to work it, but I have to be careful with it sometimes. I might have been lifting especially hard today, because I started getting a little nauseous and light-headed toward the end and cut my bonus round in half.

Comments: 1.5 rounds. Not so great, but I think the climatic shift from “warm and pleasant” to “buttock-freezing cold” has effected my energy level.

10/22/2008
Rest

10/23/2008: Stength 2 - 10# SG

SG Pull Over x6
Jump Squat x6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds
1:30 rest

Levered OH Press x6
BW Leg Curl x6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds
1:30 rest

*BONUS*
Levered Tri-Ext x2
0:45 rest
2 Rounds

Comments: Trimmed the bonus for balance with Monday. Feeling pooped, but I avoided that icky feeling from Monday, which is good.

10/24/2008: Non-intensive - 10# SG

7-14-21
J-Stroke
Pry Stroke
Back Paddle
Draw Stroke
16:00

Comments: Fun with the imaginary canoe. I used the reverse ladder because I wasn’t sure how high I’d be able to get - I managed the above, plus 28 J-Strokes on each arm, then did a few Clubbell Stirs to kill the last 30s or so, and loosen up my aching shoulders. This really whacked some target zones of mine (shoulders and forearms), so I’m likely going to make this a regular._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Odd week. I declared this a “recovery week”, thinking that it’s be good to back off the hard, intense stuff a little to let everything recover . . . and then I got sick (sinus thing that’s been going around – everybody’s getting one these days), so the phrase “recovery” took on a whole new meaning.

I’m toying with a slight adjustment to 3 strength days per week and 2 non-intensive days, but I think I might be getting ahead of myself. I’ve opted for waiting until the end of November to decide how I feel about it.

11\03\08: Strength 1- 10# SG

Giant Wrench x6
Grave Digger x6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds
1:30 rest

Over-head Lunge x6
Pump Water x6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds

Comments: Still Recovering, moving a little slow, but I made it though. Skipped the bonus (that’s why it’s “bonus”, after all).

Over-head lunge = a regular lunge with the weight held, as the name implies, with the weight extended over your head. It requires a little more core stability and balance than holding it at waist level.

11/4/2008: Non-intensive - 10# SG

7-14-21
J-Stroke
Pry Stroke
Back Paddle
Draw Stroke
16:00

Comments: I’d originally planned on doing some swordsman freestyle tonight, but I found my outlook on life curiously up-lifted by tonight’s events and decided on something a little more peace-minded.

11\5\08: Rest

Sanded drywall for an hour, and let me tell you: that was enough! I really hate doing the ceilings. . .

11\6\08: Strength 2- 10# SG

SG Pull Over x6
Jump Squat x6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds
1:30 rest

Levered OH Press x6
BW Leg Curl x6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds
1:30 rest

Comments: Skipped the bonus (again), on account of still recovering a bit from my illness. I’m feeling much better, just pretty tired still.

Comments: I’m not sure about the pullovers, but for some reason my left shoulder does seem to have quite the right degree of mobility for them. I took them a bit easy on that side. This realization has encouraged me to pursue my new plan that I’ve been working on. More later._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Okay, so I mentioned a new routine, and this is the deal. I’m feeling a little more confident in my growing strength, but I understand that if I’m to even consider seriously approaching my long-term goal of gymnastic-style training then a solid base of maximal strength is going to be key. Plus, I still want to gain that 10 pounds of leanness between now and next Halloween.

Basically, just a re-sort of my previous schedule, though I’ve made a few important replacements. Max Strength for the lower legs is difficult with shovelglove, so I’ve conspired to place my heaviest lower body lift on Wednesday, when I’ll be working out at home and have access to my free weights. Also, Pull-overs were replaced with chin-ups, because the only way to get better at doing chin-ups is to actually do them. Support lifts are nice, but it all comes down to practice. the Bilateral Grave Diggers are replaced with unilateral Pump Handle Levers to give a little extra work out of the hamstrings/lower back. Leg Curls are still suspect because it’s difficult to make them more challenging, but I’m working on a kind of “SG Leg Curl” that I might be prepared to unveil in a video soon.

I switched from 2 circuits of 2 moves to 1 of three because I though this would a) be more challenging due to the increased load per circuit b) make it easier for me to push to my limit rather than saving some gas for the next series and c) take a little less time. More work + Less Time = Intensity. Intensity is efficient, and I like efficiency.

Ideally this is going to be M-W-F. For the next week or two, T-R (and maybe Sa) will be “active recovery days”, where-in I’ll dedicate time to the foam-roller, stretches, yoga, and/or Qi-Gong. Su will be a straight rest day. I hope to start including conditioning/endurance work on these days as the weeks go by.

With regard to my weight-gain goal, I’ve started using a calorie tracker that I discovered via an iPod Touch app that I spotted on iTunes.

So, here’s the first week of all this ca-razi-ness.

12\1\08: Strength 1- 12# SG

Giant Wrench x 6
Pump Water x 6
Leg Curl x 6
Rest 0:45s
X 4

Comments: I’d say this went really well, all in all. I was tempted to add an extra set, but decided against it in favor of acclimating to the new schedule before doing anything so drastic.

Finished off with a little Yoga-improve to stretch out the important bits and re-center from the effort.

12\2\08: Recovery
15:00 Roller/Yoga

12\3\08: Strength 2- 12# SG

Chin-up x 3/3/2/2
Decline Pushup x 6
DB Lunge x 6
1:00s rest
4 Rounds

Comments: New Personal Best with chin-ups!! I’ve been doing them more or less randomly for a few weeks now, and it seems to have paid off. I’ve never done 3 consecutive ones, or even managed as many as 10 in a single day before. Once I’ve worked up to sets of 6 (or at least gotten closer to it), I’ll probably switch to doing these on my ghetto gymnastic rings (it’s way harder on rings)

Decline PUs are actually part of a progression I’m making to Handstand Pushups. The idea is to use progressively higher surfaces until I eventually become completely vertical.

This really felt like a strength workout. I didn’t get winded at any point from moving quickly through the series, but by the end I could feel my body starting to ache. I need to get this feeling out of all of my Strength Days.

Monday was a little to easier, Wednesday was perfect and Friday almost killed me. A little tweaking will follow, but I expected as much and I’m prepared, generally, to call it a win._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

12\7\08: Rest
Did some kind of weird, cardio workout DVD with the Missus. Not really my thing (too dancy), but it’s always fun to do things together.

12\8\08: Rest
This wasn’t supposed to be a rest day, but for whatever reason it turned into one, so this will be a T-R-Sa week rather than a M-W-F week. It all washes out.

12\9\08: Strength 1- 12# SG

Pump Handle Lever x 6
Giant Wrench x 6
Jump Squat x 6
Rest 0:45s
X 4

Comments: Slight modification from last week. Jump Squats and Pump Handle Levers (PHLs) are pretty tough, so I moved them up to start the week on a high note. MUCH better than last week, though I somehow managed to over extend my shoulder on a jump squat (I like to throw my arms into for extra momentum). That should be better on Thursday.

12\10\08: Rest
Laid low today. That wasting feeling that I complain about has been especially bad, so I thought it might help to keep my activity level down (fewer calories burned) and eat everything I could catch.

Comments: Slight equipment adjustment, due to my schedule change. I’m not working at home, so I don’t have access to a pullup bar or weights. Maybe I need one of those cantilever pullup bars . . .

Anyway, even with the substitutions, that was a pretty good workout. I’m dissapointed with my pullup numbers (and with having to give myself a little assist via foot-on-the-floor for more than half of them), but considering that rings make these things waaay harder and that I’ve never actually done a full chinup on the rings before tonight, I’m not going to beat myself up over it.

12\12\08: Rest

12\13\08: Strength 3- 12# SG

Pump Water x 6
OH Press x 6
Leg Curl x 6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds

Comments: I think I’ve got a really good thing going with this routine. I’ll probably see out December doing things as I am, and then start to incorporate more intentional work on T-R(and maybe Sa). For now, I’m quite pleased.

12\15\08: Strength 1- 12# SG

Pump Handle Lever x 6
Giant Wrench x 6
SG Leg Curl x 6
Rest 0:45
x 4

Comments:Bodyweight leg curls were getting a little easy, so I thought I'd experiment with an idea for a SG variation. Not bad, but it suffers from the same problem of the BW version - difficult to raise the challenge level.

12\16\08: Rest

12\17\08: Strength 2- 12# SG

Chinups x 3/3/2/2
Decline Pushup x 6
DB Lunge x6 (20#)
Rest 0:45s
x 4

Comments: I may or may not be getting sick, which may or may not have inhibited my pullup numbers (I had hoped for more 3s), but either way the possibility of illness makes me very unhappy. 'Tis the season, and all that.

Mae a slight adjustment to my lunge form, which resulted in very satisfying increase in challenge to the muscles on the inner and outer thighs - deficiencies which probably cause my knee pain.

12/18/2008-12/28/2008: Recovery

Illness, holidays, and weirdness with my work schedule have abounded, thus a considerable layoff, of which I am immensely ashamed.

But the future awaits, and a new solstice means a new sun, and renewed hoped for the coming year. ONWARD!!

12\29\08: Strength 1 - 12# SG

Chin-up x 3/3/2/2
Decline Pushup x 6
DB Lunge x 6
0:45s rest
4 Rounds

Comments: I really feel like this goes better at the beginning of the week, and for some reason I’m in the mood for chinups today. Henceforth, this will be renamed “Strength 1”.

Also, I really need to start doing random chinups throughout the week, because I’ve stalled at those numbers for too long.

12\30\08: Rest

12\31\08: Rest

01\01\09: Strength 2 Improv - Rings

Ring Row x 6
Ring Pushup x 6
Jump Squat x 6
Rest 0:45s
X 4

Comments: Left the SG at home, so I had to improvise with my ghetto rings. Good for variety, so I’m not complaining.

I forgot how challenging the rings were on my grip/forearms! I started out by making these fairly difficult, but by the last round I had moved my feet quit a bit to get my last few reps. An hour later, my wrists still feel like jelly!

Oh, and Happy New Year . . . I guess? I think the Solstice is a more valid “new beginning” than our arbitrary calendar date, but I tend to think at a bit of a tangent from normality.

Comments: I can't lie, I cheated on a few of those chinups and gave myself a little boost off the floor with my foot. I’m not proud of it, but in my defense I did make it a point to go slow on the negative portion to make it a little tougher.

My already abnormal sleep cycle was disrupted and I’m kind of out of whack today.

Adjusted the Decline PU to make them more like a pike press – emphasizes the shoulders and traps, and will help prepare me for Handstand Pushups . . . someday.

1\6\09 – 1/12/09: Illness
I feel of death.

01/13/09: Active Recovery

14:00 with the foam roller and some general stretching. I need to start doing this one my non-lifting days.

Comments: Not a great time compared to previous efforts at this routine, but this is my first time doing it with the 12# SG, so that’s going to slow things down a little bit. Also, I still don’t feel well - I think it’s a combination of the weather (dreary and wretchedly cold), residual illness and a bit of the typical “winter burn-out”.

I’m going to get 3 workouts in this week if it kills me, though odds are good that they’ll be pretty lame in terms of quality. I’m hoping that shovelglove-induced endorphins will help make me feel more human . . . I’ve had this damned headache for, like, a month now. >_<

Comments: I forget to start the timer until I’d already done the 21 pushups, but I got carried away a couple of times and went past my goal on some others, so it probably evened out . . . maybe?

Oh crap, I’m tired.

1/24/2009-2/9/2009: Avoid Death

Yeah, okay. This has been the crappiest month ever. Whatever the hell has been wrong with me reached a head on 1/26 and I almost passed out at the Vet’s office (Tux is sick. ). The rest of the week was pretty much a downhill slide toward a weekend of total misery, complete nausea, lack of appetite, mind-breaking depression etc, etc. The Doc says that I’m not dying (which is good), but he doesn’t have any really good ideas for what’s wrong – probably some kind of long-duration viral or possible even several of them acting concert against me and my best intentions.

I’m actually starting to feel better now (that’s 2/4), but I’m decided to take it easy this week, sleep as much as I can get away with and eat anything I can catch. My hopes are high that I’ll be back to something nearing my old self by 2/9, at which time I’ll get back into the swing of things._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

I'm so sorry to hear about your health woes -- it's just terrible to feel that bad and not really know what's causing it. Glad to hear you are feeling somewhat better today, and hope you are feeling even better by 2/9! And how is Tux doing? I hope he's getting better, too.

(I think of you every time I do a few samurai moves with my Tai Chi sticks, and every day when I do your "Pump Water" shug move -- still lovin' it).

In the meantime, for what it's worth, I hereby grant you all the shovelglove indulgences you're inclined to take. If you keep going gangbusters in the state you're in, not only might you make it worse, but you'll start to loath shugging by pavlovian association! But it sounds like you know and are doing this already.

Well, medical science officially declared me “perfectly healthy”, so I decided that my bizarre symptoms were the result of stress, lack of sleep and an unfortunate habit of eating far fewer calories than I either require, suspect, or intend (one or more exotic viruses may have contributed as well). I’ve spent the last few weeks working to correct these, and now I’m ready to ease back into working out.

Comments: Skipped the pushups I usually use in this workout - not because I don’t need them, but because I wanted to lighten the load a little. I’ll add them back after I’ve worked this routine to under 14:00

4/01/09: Active Recovery – Contact Juggling

Ross recommends juggling for a variety of reasons, but somehow I’ve never quite gotten my head wrapped around the whole “toss/catch” . . . thing. Fortunately, there are alternatives. Not that I’m any good at either, but this is a good excuse to practice.

Active recovery days will consist of 20:00+ of Freestyle Contact Juggling (today I did about 30:00 of staff manipulation).

Comments: I didn’t sleep well today – lots of noise outside from roofing work and lawn-cutting (sounds like spring!) – so I went into this one feeling a little lethargic and just decided to plod through with as little consideration for the clock as I could manage. Apparently, slow and steady really does win the race, because this came in almost 1.5 minutes shorter than Tuesday’s time. I guess I won’t be able to put off those pushups for as long as I thought I could. :p

Comments: Left the pushups off this time just see if the last one was a fluke – it apparently wasn’t, so I’ll be including them next week for sure._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Juggling is definitely a good one for coordination, especially when you get comfortable enough to start walking with it or, even worse, "joggling" - which is just what it sounds like. O_o_________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: Tired today, so I made an extra effort to ignore the clock, and didn’t worry about a few short breaks here and there.

That last round of pushups is really tough!

04/10/09: Contact Juggling

30:00 of staff manipulation

Comments: Cracked myself in the jaw pretty good once, but in general I’m getting a lot better at catching the staff as it flies away from me.

4/11/09:

Feeling ragged today, so I’m taking a break. Didn’t sleep well, and what sleep I did get came way later than it should have._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: Replaced the butter churns with squats, because it seemed redundant alongside tucking bales. Naturally, this resulted in a slight improvement in the elapsed time, so after test-driving this plan, I’ll consider adding something for next week.

I’ll need to move the squats to a better position in the cycle (probably the end), because it was annoying to put the hammer down and pick it up so many times.

* Except for that time I juggled tennis balls filled with lead shot. Seemed like a good idea at the time but it gave me a good dose of tendinitis in my wrists and forearms. I don't recommend that to anyone. Now when I want to combine juggling with a bit of a workout, I wear wrist weights. Gives me the exercise without the horrible strain on the wrists.

I think we have the opposite juggling polarity. I found toss juggling pretty easy to pick up and taught myself the 3 ball cascade purely from seeing someone juggle on TV for a few seconds. Now I am proficient with 4 balls and can manage a messy 5 (I had plenty of instruction from books and the web for those).

Contact juggling has always perplexed and bamboozled me though! I love watching contact juggling but I just can't do it. Like you though, I have too much fun with the juggling I can do to really try to learn a different type.

Rather than bonuses at the end, I decided this week to start slipping in a little isometric warm-up. It’s handstands against the wall for now (hold for as long as possible in 1:00), and I’ll slowly up the ante as it gets easier.

Comments: Replaced Chop Wood with Pump Water to get a little more lat into the movement. Took the squats very slow and deliberately – considering my history of knee problems I need to be cautions with deep squats.

Comments: I originally included hindu squats like usual, but I didn’t make it through the first round without some . . . discomfort in my bad knee, so I rested a minute and decided to drop them for now.

Comments: I moved the handstand practice in my daily schedule, so that it’s kind of a separate activity now (it’s part of my “settling in while starting the work day” activities now). This gives me some time for my shoulders to rest a little before getting into the real workout (it appears to have helped).

I didn’t realize it until just now, but it’s really a lot like Reinhard’s opportunistic exercises (which I plan on doing with chinups soon).

Thanks, Reinhard! Lot's of people can't do good pullups, that why I'm pretty obsessive about form. Mine are always full range-of-motion, from a dead hang. Occasionally, I cheat a little with a toe on the ground to give me a little push, but I like to make up for that by really going slow on the downward phase.

If I ever get my project-house finished and manage to move, I intend to build a playground-caliber fitness rig in the backyard. I can't wait! ^_^

---
I mentioned last week that I was thinking about using something like Reinhard’s “opportunistic exercise” scheme to work more chin-ups into my day. I can’t do very many of them in a set, and from what I’ve read this a great way to bring your numbers up.

Some Russian dude named Pavel popularized a similar plan a while back, calling it “Grease the Groove”, which, honestly, sounds a little weird. Regardless, I’ll be slipping in one chinup (on a bar at home, on rings while at work) every time I go to the bathroom on an N-Day – which is pretty frequently because I tend to drink a lot of water and/or coffee on N-Days.

Comments: Tired today, like usual for the end of the week, so I took my time. I've found an interesting twist on the Fireman (see it's thread in the moves section), and my upgraded hammer is hemorrhaging sand (see that thread in the general discussion area).

It's been a good week. The conditional chinups were wearing me down a bit, so I took Wednesday off from them, but I probably did anywhere between 5-8 on each of the other four days this week, so we can call it a win._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Okay, so maybe it wasn't H1N1, but I've been really sick all week (even missed some work, which is kind or rare for me these days), so all physical activity has been replaced with sleep. I'm feeling better now, and should be back on the hammer for my regularly scheduled shugging next week._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

I’m still a little ragged from last week’s flu-thing, so I decided to skip the max strength workout (and the handstand/chinup practice) for tonight. No promises for tomorrow, either – I’m going to just wait and see how I feel.

Also, I traded in my macebell swings for a favorite ab exercise of mine. Still experimenting with this series, really.

Comments: I got through the first set of 21s when I realized that one my add-on weights was flopping around in my “glove”, so I untied the rig and found that one my zip-ties had broken. ;_; I should probably take a minute or two penalty for the rest I got while working this problem out (I paused the stopwatch), but I tried to make the reduced-weight sets a little more challenging to compensate.

I really shouldn’t have procrastinated so long on doing something about that sand leak I mentioned a while back. -_-

Comments: Back to 12# now. The ankle weights were a bit big, so I pulled out the metal bars and taped them to the hammer’s head. Not bad for now, but I need to find some stronger tape.

I feel really good today, despite being a little behind on sleep. I think the creatine is making a difference for me – feel more energetic in general (though not dramatically, I’ll admit), and today I was really holding the hammer far from head, even with the extra weight I needed more leverage to work against. I’m also sleeping deeper, but that might not be related. I’m really looking forward to shugging again after a weekend’s rest._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: Got a few layers of duct tape over my add-on weights – Much more stable now. Back on the handstands, too.

I’m, quite pleased with this creatine business – I can really feel a huge difference in my energy level. The package says to take 1 teaspoon/day, so I’ve started splitting it up, with ½ when I wake up and the other half after my workout. It seems to work even better this way, I guess because I’m keeping a steadier supply of it handy rather than just dumping a bunch on my system all at once.

Comments: I always forget that a steady, even pace gives me better times than hauling heiney until I’m too tired to do more than limp along through the final round._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Comments: That was good - I worked like hell for 20 minutes, then snacked/rested for 30 until I felt like I could walk upright again.

The feet-in-rings thing was a little weird (and difficult to get into possition for at first), but it provided a very interesting challenge. I thought about using a more conventional ring pushup, but I didn’t want to lose time adjusting the height on my rings.

6/17/2009: Laziness

The hardest part about taking a vacation is going back to work when it’s over – especially when your hours are as wacky as mine. x_x

Comments: I was a little tired going into this one (busy weekend), so I wasn’t expecting a stellar performance. Imagine my surprise! Not only did it go faster, but everything was much easier than last week. If this goes as well next week, I’ll have to find something to make it harder.

Special note, decline pushups in the grass really suck. It kept poking me the face every time I went down. >_<

6/24/2009: Laziness

Work-related this time. There was some weirdness with my schedule, but that’s gone now, I should be able to get back to regular juggling starting next week.

Comments: Seriously lacking in motivation, but I pulled it together enough to get a decent time. I think next week will be a “back-off week”, though I haven’t decided yet just how I’m going to do it._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

Last week was supposed to be “active recovery”, but turned in to “passive recovery” (read: a whole lot of nothing) for a variety of reasons not with going into. I’m at a stage in my house renovations where I need to be careful with my energy level, so I’m going to ditch the heavy lifting until the concrete is all poured and set. Once I’m back into drywall and such, I’ll pick it back up.

Comments: Experimenting with a new conditioning-style routine, obviously similar to my old Combat SG stuff that I used to do with the 6#. I’ve never actually done any of the samurai moves with the 12# before, and they were as challenging as expected. I’ve got a serious pump in my forearms!

Comments: I found the headcuts a little dissapointing, so I went for a round two with the slashes - much more satisfying!

The footwork is difficult to describe, but stepping through on the diagonal slash requires more coordination and helps to translate energy through the core. Also, a diagonal slash is a bit more natural with a two-handed weapon, so it was easier to control the motion leaving my brain to focus on relaxing shoulders and keeping my head up - Thanks again for that tip, David!

7/9/2009 to 7/15/2009

Suffered from a critical motivation/energy failure. No excuses, just tired and lazy so I took a little extra time off.

Part of me knows that habit of exercise is more important the quality of the workout itself, but my brain only has two speed - "full-steam" and "dead stop" - so its hard for me to muster the ambition for a crappy, half-assed workout.

7/16/2009: Bokken Conditioning

4:00 Bokken Freestyle
Tabata Slashes

Comments: if it were okay to punish myself for last week or so of sloth, I'd say that that's what I was doing with this workout. I'm dripping with sweat, aching from the bicpeps down, and my left thumb has the beginnings of a lovely swordsman's blister that I hope someday grows into a mighty callous.

7/17/2009: Copper Sulfate Shuffle

Shoulder a 50# bag
Run 10', around a corner, up a few steps, around a 180 corner and drop it onto a pile
Run back to to pallet of bags
repeat, moving as fast as possible, until totally gassed.

Comments: I had to do this for work anyway, so decided to make it into a little workout. The course was small, but with enough baffling and corners to make balance and coordination a good part of the challenge.

I managed to do 9 like this, though I might have made a few more if I hadn't done it right after lunch. It was pretty fun, even though I felt a little pukey by the time I stopped. x_x

Comments: Feeling a little adrift, and I'm looking to start including some new things in my workouts. I'm thinking of using daily 10 minute juggling sessions and more frequent workouts, of variable intensity.

"Spear the Fish" is a new experimental move I've been developing since that thread about balance-oriented moves popped up in the general discussion forum. Basically, it's a lateral jump with a downward thrust then a lateral jump back to the starting point while drawing the "spear" back (that makes one rep). I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I'm hoping to do a vid for it once I'm convinced that it's not terribly likely to kill me._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

I wish you luck in recovering to good health, Phayze. I also hope you find peace and contentment with your training regime. I know firsthand how painful over analysis of training methodology can be. I used to worry so much about my training plans that I never got around to doing them most of the time and when I did I was often wondering "is this the best plan?" It is not good for the soul, not for me anyway. It took some time but I finally dispensed with the paralysis by analysis.

I do like the huge variety of the movements you incorporate though and I think this must be good for creating a well rounded workout.

This message is for Phayze. I have read most of your posting and really respect your dedication and commitment. I have some advice for what its worth and if you don't agree just ignore it but it is only my opinion which maybe is not worth all that much but here it is.
Firstly, I love doing shovelglove, mainly because I think it is fun. But the fact is, depending on what your goal is, there are other forms of exercise which maybe you could try. Firstly, for building strength and muscle mass, nothing comes close to lifting weights. I know there are drawbacks to them and I no longer lift myself, but to build strength and muscle you have to lift progressively heavier weights for low to moderate number of reps. I used to dig ditches for a living and while it was good exercise I never gained as much muscle from it as from weight lifting. Pushups and pullups are great and they are what I do now but they will give you muscular endurance, not muscle. Look at some old photos of railraod building crews. They look strong and lean but they are not bodybuilders and they swung sledgehammers all day long.

For aerobic conditioning you need to get your heart rate up as you know and if you can do that with shovelglove then great but I cannot. You have to run or swim or climb stairs or something.

My concern is you are suffering from my problem of obsessiveness. A few years ago I was so obsessed with fitness and losing weight I worked out constantly and lost 35 pounds in less than a month but everyone thought I had cancer or AIDS I looked so drawn out.

I do shovelglove because I always enjoyed working with my hands more than going to the gym and shovelglove is like that. The time I do shovelglove flies by while the time in gym drags on, but I still go to gym because aerobic exercise is important. I try to do at least 70 minutes shovelglove every week in addition to working farm, going to gym and hiking in jungle, kayaking, etc. I cannot do 14 minutes a day because I am often not home and I have enough to carry in jungle without lugging a big hammer. But I often do shovelglove for 28-52 minutes to make up for the days I miss and sometimes do 30-60 minutes even though it is not multiples of 14. I am on mountain rescue team and I believe shovelglove helped me maintain certain muscular functions which are important in doing things like chopping through bush with machete and chopping wood for fires. Fitness should be part of your life, not your life. Try to have fun and not think so much. You are obviously a very fit person but there is such a thing as overtraining. Doctors say try nto get at least 30 minutes exercise a day, even if it is just going for a walk and this is a good suggestion. Get out of the house and run or walk in the park or the mountains. Bring the hammer and bang some rocks outside or do like I did and get an old tractor tire and bang that for 30 minutes. It is great fun and stress relief. Maybe do some rock climbing. It is more fun than pullups. In Thailand there is a work called sanuk which sort of means fun and is just about the most important thing. Thai peoiple believe you can make anything sanuk, even work, and it is a good attitude I believe. That is why shovelglove caught on here because it is sanuk, and noone here would do it if it wasn't.

This was a long rambling posting which I never do but I see something of myself in your situation and I just wanted to help if possible._________________Chiang Mai and Nakhon Sawan, Thailand

I wish you luck in recovering to good health, Phayze. I also hope you find peace and contentment with your training regime.

Thanks! Exercise for me is a constantly evolving force, so I doubt that I'll ever find anything like contentment with it - once that starts to happen, it's usually time to start mixing things up again. -_^ The real trick is to guide that evolution by keeping the goal in mind. New challenges keep that mind sharp, and the body strong.

I've done a lot of work on myself, mentally, to keep out of the "paralysis by analysis" trap, and I think I'm doing pretty well these days. My problem is that I want to be able to do everything, and I want to do it all at once, so I have to be careful to either plan my routines accordingly, or focus on one area of fitness at a time.

I'll have to watch those youtube links later - I'm at work now, and my evil network admin has it blocked out. -_^

chiangmaiboss wrote:

In Thailand there is a work called sanuk which sort of means fun and is just about the most important thing. Thai peoiple believe you can make anything sanuk, even work, and it is a good attitude I believe. That is why shovelglove caught on here because it is sanuk, and noone here would do it if it wasn't.

I love this word, and the concept that it embodies! Most people in the west think of anything that requires more effort than pushing a button to be a terrible burden. I totally agree that workouts should be fun, which is part of why mine are always changing. I get bored easily, and I need to challenge myself in news ways to keep things fun.

I appreciate the advice, too. I've given a lot of thought to how I exercise and whether it's getting me what I want, which is another reason that my routines change so often, and why I've made all of those videos demonstrating new ways to use a shovelglove. For now, I'm mostly developing my "power-to-weight" ratio, so I'm focusing on explosive moves that require a lot of coordination and speed, but aren't like to add any real bulk. I'm getting my heavy-lifting practice in with the concrete that I'm doing on the house that I'm fixing up - 80# bags suck!! :p

I've thought about including more traditional weight-lifting in my workouts, but that stuff mostly bores me and I don't stick with it. When I'm ready for that kind of challenge, I'll probably go back to gymnastic-style bodyweight moves - I've played around with them before, and they're extremely challenging and fun.

Oh, and as far as being obsessive . . . I don't know if that's the word I'd use, but I probably look that way on this forum, since exercise is really the only thing that I write about here. It's probably fair to say that I over-think, but I do that with everything that I do. I don't seem to get a lot of time to do fun stuff with my hands so I like to have a plan that lets me focus on the good parts without wondering what to do when I get a chance to do it. ^_^

As long as you enjoy what you are doing then that is great. I know what you mean about the concrete. I used to work for a mason mixing concrete and hauling bags and it is hard work._________________Chiang Mai and Nakhon Sawan, Thailand

I was looking for something gentle, because I'm pulling a double shift at work this weekend (what the hell, right? Most people get to be off work on the weekends!!). "Gentle" is not the right word for this, but I took it slow.

7/25/2009: reSt

Double shift tonight, and more concrete tomorrow, plus I get to install a new water heater in my non-project house.

Comments: I liked this pretty well, all in all, and it only took 16:00 to complete, including a minute or two break between rounds. My only complaint is that the ring rows are little easy this workout's intended goal. I have a few ideas in mind for making them more challenging.

All that time spent shouldering, hauling and mixing bags of concrete/mortar, and stacking cinder blocks over the past few weeks have taught me some interesting new "useful movements" that I think I'd be better of for doing more often. The block I'm using is a bit bigger and heavier the ones they sell for a dollar at Lowe's - it was salvaged from the foundation that I just replaced - but I don't know for sure what it weighs. I'll have to get it on a scale eventually. You might call it a "cheat", but since I don't wear gloves for workouts, I wrapped a little duct tape around the parts of the block that I'd be gripping, mainly to keep little bits of it from embedding themselves into my hands.

For the record, the High pulls were supposed to be snatches, but that was before I almost fell backwards and broke my spine. After a while I'll revisit the snatch idea.

Comments: Kind of half-assed for a tabata, but I'm still a little sore from Tuesday.

9/4/2009: 12# SG

10:00 Staff Manipulation

Freestyle 14:00

Comments: Working on some refinement to Spear the Fish and a new move "Mixing Mortar", and also trying to teach myself that it's okay to workout without pushing myself to the limit.

9/5/2009 - 9/12/2009

Between the long holiday weekend, my wife having some painful pregnancy-related problems (nothing serious, thankfully), and my lovable kitten, Ripley "The Ripper", scratching a lovely set of stigmata into my right palm during a bath (also not serious, but gripping things tightly is often difficult) I haven't actually managed a workout this week. I'm hoping that everything will be back to normal by Tuesday._________________1 Picture = 1,000 words
0:01s Video = 30 pictures
therefore, 0:01s Video = 30,000 words

This took about 15:15 to complete, including a few minutes of stretching afterwards. I'm not actually pushing to do this workout faster, but as it gets easier I'll spend less time resting between rounds, so the stopwatch is telling me something about how I'm adapting the work.

You know, I'm getting really sick of getting down one really good week of exercise and then being knocked down by some force of nature . . .

Long story short, I fell down and smashed up my knee two weeks ago. The bad one, of course. So, I've been in recovery mode (have I ever mentioned how bad I am at recovery mode?), and probably will be for a while still. If I can't convince the doc on Friday that I'm doing better, he's sending me to physical therapy.

You know, I'm getting really sick of getting down one really good week of exercise and then being knocked down by some force of nature . . .

Long story short, I fell down and smashed up my knee two weeks ago. The bad one, of course. So, I've been in recovery mode (have I ever mentioned how bad I am at recovery mode?), and probably will be for a while still. If I can't convince the doc on Friday that I'm doing better, he's sending me to physical therapy.

Also, if you're going to fall and hurt yourself, I highly recommend doing it on your own time. Assuming, that is, that you're employer has a worker's comp policy as punitive as mine does.